Youth basketball, My virgin experience ;)

So it was my first time shooting basketball. I had all sorts of problems to overcome.
First was getting the city officials to let me shoot from the baseline.
Check
Next was my lighting or lack there off.
Errrrrrr... kind of check...
Then I had to get a feel for the game.
Checkaroo
And lastly I had to stop watching the game and actually shoot it!
Hey, I got some shots! So mark that as a check.

The guy in charge of the games and building gave me an OK right out ofthe gate. He said he didn't care as long as I didn't interfer with the games, players or refs. I had too much else to worry about than to hassle a ref over a loosey call.

Lighting was going to be my biggest issue. I haven't received my RF-602's yet so doing a proper strobe set up wasn't going to happen. So I mounted my 540EZ to the camera, set it to manual, 1/4 power and fixed it so the beam went straight up with just a hint of a tip forward. I shot the whole game with a verticle framing. Love the grip with the vert trigger! I also had another older strobe set up on a light stand not too far away and it had an old opticle slave triggering that strobe. When it did fire it was very nice lighting, but that didn't happen too often. Hmmmmm...
then there was the white balance game I kept playing all night. Thank God for PP!

I've been watching my son play basketball for a while now and I love the game so getting a feel for it wasn't a real issue for me. I just has to judge the kids speed. Some of those little buggers are fast!

I caught myself more than a few times just leaning back against the wall and watching the game. I know I missed a couple really nice opportunaties as the action, faces, ball and everything was right there to shoot.
But I didn't...

In the end I can see that I have a long way to go with this sport. Some new gear is needed for sure. But for now I'll just have to make do with what I got.

The images:

Good stuff. I don't think you need any help at all -- except maybe your wallet. You got it figured out.

You did pretty good on these. I did a fast adjustment on one of them. Here's my take. I still don't think the wb is right though.

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Yeah, You're right. The WB is a little off on my original. Your's seems just a bit too blue for my taste. It could be our monitors. Maybe somewhere in between would be better.
I had the worst time trying to get the WB right in that gym. There was a lot of ambiant light in that gym. The school is only about 5 years old and in great shape. Now if only they would play at my son's Middle School. It's only two years old and is light up like a college hardwood gym!
The color of the walls in my images is actually correct. They are not white, too bad. They are this nasty yellowish, baby poo tan color. Maybe that's where my dificulties are coming from.
I'll try to WB off of those walls instead of a white card.
Next week's game is at an nasty,old, dark MS gym with almost no room at the baselines.

I wish I could get some of the rim or backboard in the shots, but the kids are just too short and don't jump that high yet.

OK, here's another take on that image. A little more blue.

Chas, those bleachers look familiar to some I have seen in the gyms around here. I have used super clamps to mount a strobe on the handrail at a high school gym with those bleachers that have the individual hand rails.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a sturdy mount. If you use light stands, tape them to the floor with duck tape or gaffers tape. Believe me, I know. I have had all sorts of things happen, from little kid trying to grab the light stand and shake it, to 1000 students come through the area where my stand was positioned (with legs taped to the floor). The school had sold tickets for the students to get out of class and watch their girls team play during the recent McDonalds Texas Invitational. If a volunteer hadn't stood in their way, my stand would have been knocked over. And to think, the school officials said there wouldn't be any traffic in that area.

I shot some pics at my grandsons game in a junior high using an 85 f/1.8 lens. The whole time I was trying to figure out how to mount a couple of speedlights. All I could think of is all the kids running around would knock over anything free standing. I finally gave up on the idea of a light stand or two.

I hope you find some of this info helpful.
Mike

MT Stringer wrote in post #9183687
Chas, those bleachers look familiar to some I have seen in the gyms around here. I have used super clamps to mount a strobe on the handrail at a high school gym with those bleachers that have the individual hand rails.

Whatever you do, make sure you have a sturdy mount. If you use light stands, tape them to the floor with duck tape or gaffers tape. Believe me, I know. I have had all sorts of things happen, from little kid trying to grab the light stand and shake it, to 1000 students come through the area where my stand was positioned (with legs taped to the floor). The school had sold tickets for the students to get out of class and watch their girls team play during the recent McDonalds Texas Invitational. If a volunteer hadn't stood in their way, my stand would have been knocked over. And to think, the school officials said there wouldn't be any traffic in that area.
Mike

One of the other guys shooting the HS last night had a WL1600 mounted on a light stand last night. He had to sit right next to it the whole game to make sure that it didn't get knocked over with all the kids walking by. He physically had to hold onto it between games and periods as it was getting bumped constantly. I even babysat it so he could grab a bite to eat.

Made me really happy to have my magic arms and super clamps to hold my lights.

Congrats on your first BB shoot. Some very nice captures. Lots of expressive faces and you were low enough to capture them with a good perspective. Keep at it. Tweak those white balances. Betting supplemental lighting will eventually assist you in getting better image quality. Welcome to the club!

I want to get a couple of those "super clamps" otherwise know in my world as a mayfer. Those come for use in the TV and film production world. There is a local supplier of those. I'll have to run down there and get some. The problem is that I'll still have to mount one light on a stand because the middle schools these kids play in only have stands on one side of the gym. But I think I can get away with one on a stand. But before all that, I still need those radio triggers.

Thanks for the kind words about my images. I only got what I got because of reading everything I could in this forum. Thanks to everyone that posted any info about shooting basketball with strobes.

ChasWG wrote in post #9185618
I want to get a couple of those "super clamps" otherwise know in my world as a mayfer. Those come for use in the TV and film production world. There is a local supplier of those. I'll have to run down there and get some. The problem is that I'll still have to mount one light on a stand because the middle schools these kids play in only have stands on one side of the gym. But I think I can get away with one on a stand. But before all that, I still need those radio triggers.

Thanks for the kind words about my images. I only got what I got because of reading everything I could in this forum. Thanks to everyone that posted any info about shooting basketball with strobes.

If you have a flat smooth surface take a look at these suction cup mounts.

there are single and dual suction cup setups.

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_Dual_Suction_C​amera.html

I think you did a very good job considering it was your first go. Well Done!

Those suction cups look like a good idea but my heart couldn't stand the stress of having a $400 strobe mounted on it and 15 - 20 energetic fans stomping the bleachers for all five games of a volleyball playoff game. I had to go make sure the super clamp was still holding several times. When the teams switched ends of the court they went to the other end and stood by the other strobe and did the same thing! I hate to say it, it didn't hurt my feelings when their team lost.

I also use a security cable that will catch the strobe if it breaks away from the mount. When possible, I use a tie wrap to secure the clamp to the hand rail for security also.

To the OP, I think you will be OK, especially if you can get a volunteer to sit/stand by you light stand during the game. That would help most of all.

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of those suction cup style clamps. they seem like a good idea, but you need a fairly smooth surface to make secure contact. I've used those before for mounting small video cameras to the outside of cars while they are moving. Even then you have to remover, clean and reinstall all the time just to make sure you don't trash an expensive camera. I like the idea of the mayfer/superclamp and G-tape or duct tape to cover the handles so they don't get messed with. Right now I'm shooting 6th grade sports and I don't have the huge, ravenous fans like at a HS game. But I did have a ball hit one of my light stands last night. Nothing fell, but it makes you wonder. I'll be bringing my heavy sand bags for future games. That and some duct tape too.

Good ideas everyone. This is why I had as much success as I did at last nights game, because people here shared their knowledge and wisdom. Again, thanks to all the great folks who post to this forum and the entire site. I've always said that these kind of enthusiast based web sites are the best source of information for a specific topic out there! Want to learn how to shoot basketball? Read POTN Sports forum!

Agree with Ziv. Some good lighting and the 70-200 should work well.

Thanks for the nice words everyone.
As for lights I have a couple different options. I have three flash units. A Canon 540EZ, a Zeikos 680EX and a really old, but solid Chinon Auto s-360. But I also own some small studio type strobes. I got these years ago and only recently rediscovered them in my garage attic. They are made by Medelight and sold by Photographers Warehouse. They are the older units that only put out 100 ws. Which flash units should I use? The mix of camera flashes or the Medelight units. The flash guns might be more moveable as they don't need to be plugged in, but the reclycle time and battery life is obviously less than a AC powered studio strobe type unit. But with the studio strobes I'll have to have them plugged in. Hmmmm...

Obviously I could spend a bunch of money and get better results, but that's just not going to happen right now.

And the RF-602 triggers are litterly on the slowboat from China as I type.
So what would you suggest?